LILIES - RHS Lily Group
LILIES - RHS Lily Group
LILIES - RHS Lily Group
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From the Chairman<br />
Pat Huff writes an introduction to the <strong>Lily</strong> <strong>Group</strong> and<br />
its history in recent years.<br />
“Amateurs determined to grow even the<br />
apparently ungrowable” is the way Brent Elliott<br />
describes the membership of the <strong>Lily</strong> <strong>Group</strong>.<br />
His fascinating article (see pages 28-35)<br />
chronicles the <strong>Group</strong>’s inception in 1932 and<br />
its activities up until 1990, the beginning of the<br />
end of the twentieth century. Although there<br />
have been some fundamental changes over the<br />
<strong>Group</strong>’s 75 year history, Brent’s characterisation<br />
of our members is as true now as it ever was.<br />
Despite the presence of many professional<br />
gardeners and nurserymen amongst us, we are<br />
still all “amateurs” in the original sense: lovers of these beautiful, demanding and<br />
often exasperating plants.<br />
Taking up the history of the <strong>Group</strong> where Brent left off, Harris Howland was<br />
succeeded as Chairman of the <strong>Group</strong> by Tim Whiteley. Tim’s woodland garden<br />
on the Bucks/Northants border is one of the best places in England to see lilies.<br />
(And snowdrops. And woody plants, particularly the genus Euonymus.) His<br />
encyclopaedic knowledge of the genus combined with his experience as an<br />
<strong>RHS</strong> judge and his international contacts throughout the lily world ensured that<br />
the <strong>Group</strong> was always in touch with the latest developments in breeding and<br />
cultivation.<br />
Tim was Chairman when I joined the Committee in 1998. Although the<br />
founding members of the <strong>Lily</strong> Committee back in 1931 included such illustrious<br />
names as Frederick Stern, Arthur Grove and Amos Perry, at my first meeting I was<br />
in the company of the likes of Tim Whiteley, Harris Howland, Michael Upward<br />
and the late Derek Fox (see pp. 15-17). When I met him Derek had already<br />
published the indispensable Growing Lilies, and created the wonderful Bullwood<br />
hybrids such as ‘Lake Tahoe’ and ‘Lake Tulare’. These lovely lilies are now sadly<br />
rare in cultivation but incredibly sought after when they turn up in the trade or<br />
in the <strong>Group</strong>’s bulb auctions. Despite his immense prestige, Derek was funny,<br />
modest and very friendly to a newcomer. When I first joined the Committee, two<br />
other links to the <strong>Lily</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s heroic past were also still around, and equally<br />
helpful. Dee Simmons (see pp. 5-8) and I spoke regularly on the phone, and I<br />
sat next to Bill Baker at the lunch celebrating Harris Howland’s being awarded<br />
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